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Take passes at full speed
Players should be able to take a pass at pace without breaking stride.
The receiver’s hand nearest the passer should be just to the side of their own shoulder and the other hand in line with the middle of the body.
It does not need to be in position until the last moment (try running fast without using your arms!)The runner must accelerate onto the ball, moving from a slow jog into 80 to 90% speed by the time the ball is in the air.
Here are two exercises that can help work on hand position and acceleration onto the ball.
Pace race
Put two feeders side-by-side on the halfway line about 10m in from touch. Put two runners on the touchline 5m either side of the line. Runners must race to the 15m line, receiving a pass at pace from the feeders. They will learn to adjust their hand positions to improve the catch and pace onto the ball.
Develop this by making the feeding pass longer or get the runners to weave in and out before receiving.
Change of pace
Put a feeder on the 22m line and one on the halfway line. Give a ball to the feeder on the 22m line.
Get a player to jog from the try line and accelerate towards the 22m. As they hit the 22m, they take a pass and sprint towards the 10m line.
They slow after this line, popping the ball to the feeder on the halfway line. They then jog through to the far 22m line, turn and return to where they started.
race pace
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Runners come in from the touchline, accelerate into passes from feeders and sprint to the 15m line
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change of pace
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Runners jog from the try line, speed up when approaching the feeder, sprint to the 22m, offload, then jog to the far 22m
Two hands on the ball need not slow the runner down
According to scientific studies, running with the ball in two hands reduces the speed of the ball carrier (*).
You can improve the speed of players by practising sprinting with one hand on the ball. This has the following consequences for your coaching:
1. You must encourage the ball carrier to have two hands on the ball if they are looking to pass before contact.
2. At contact, one hand is acceptable if they are looking to fend off or manage the contact situation.
3. When the ball carrier is in open play without passing decisions to make (like a full back running out of defence or a winger making a break) they should revert to one hand.
In 3v2 training, make sure players have two hands on the ball before contact.
And when managing the ball in contact, let players find their own handling solutions – as long as the ball is secure.
Practise sprinting from a rolling start with the ball in hand. Remember the player will have either received a kick or a pass before starting to sprint so add this into the exercise.
(*) J Sports Sci. 2003 Dec;21(12):1009-15. The effect of ball carrying method on sprint speed in rugby union football players. Grant SJ, Oommen G, McColl G, Taylor J, Watkins L, Friel N, Watt I, McLean D.
Dan Cottrell
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